Summer

Today is our first full day of summer break

I didn’t have to get up and make lunches

and hurry my 2 older kids up

and out the door to the bus

It was hard for my husband though

because he still had to go to work 😛

I got to stay in bed

and nurse and cuddle my baby 🙂

The kids slept in

stayed in their Pj’s

watched a movie

and just chilled

happily together

My 2 year old is in heaven

having his siblings home to play with

A neighbor friend stopped by to play

yes, we live in a neighborhood where that happens

People go on runs

families out on walks

kids riding bikes

there is even a little neighborhood sharing library!

I sit here

feeding my baby

(again! he likes to eat)

listening to my daughter trying

to get her brothers to do a play

and my 2 year old reading a book

and it warms my heart

to have all 4 of my kids here at home with me

I know by the end of summer

we will all be anxious for school

but for now

I am enjoying the sounds of a busy house

because one day,

those sounds will not be there

and I need to enjoy them now

enjoy every moment with my children

because they are here

I have been blessed to have them

Dishes going, laundry started,

dinner in slow cooker

kids playing

Soon to be leaving for swimming

I LOVE Summer break!!

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5 Minute Pizza Dough

This dough is so easy

and comes together so quickly

I don’t know why you would ever

buy those nasty frozen pizzas again!

Seriously,

just throw this pizza dough together –

clean out whatever is in your fridge

toss some cheese on top

and there you go

you have a delicious, homemade pizza in minutes!

I got this 5 Minute Pizza Dough recipe from a friend awhile ago

and it has transformed the way I make pizza!

Try it out –

I think you’ll be surprised at how easy and simple it is

to make your own dough in minutes!

5 Minute Pizza Dough Ingredients:

3 3/4 cup flour (you can make with half wheat flour, if you’d like)
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 1/2 TBSP yeast
3 TBSP olive oil

Directions:

Bloom the yeast in the water. If you don’t know what that means, it should look like this:

That should only take about a minute or so. Add in the dry ingredients. Knead together for about 4 minutes – using the dough hook on your mixer (don’t have one? go buy one! They seriously save you soooo much time when cooking by scratch! Otherwise, you can knead by hand, but the mixer takes out all the work!). until the dough comes together like this:

Done! Now you can let it rest for another 5 minutes, or just start your pizza – but it usually takes me that 5 minutes to get the toppings for my pizza together 🙂 I then put it on my hot pizza stone, add the toppings, and cook at 425 for 15 minutes! delicious and easy!

ENJOY! What are your favorite pizza toppings? Mmm…. I love pizza 🙂 I think I could eat pizza for every meal. I should try it sometime! I think my kids would enjoy that experiment!

5 Minute Pizza Dough

Ingredients

3 3/4 cup flour (you can make with half wheat flour, if you'd like)
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 1/2 TBSP yeast
3 TBSP olive oil

Instructions

Bloom the yeast in the water
That should only take about a minute or so.
Add in the dry ingredients.
Knead together for about 4 minutes - using the dough hook on your mixer. Otherwise, you can knead by hand until the dough comes together.
Done!
Now you can let it rest for another 5 minutes, or just start your pizza - but it usually takes me that 5 minutes to get the toppings for my pizza together 🙂
I then put it on my hot pizza stone, add the toppings, and cook at 425 for 15 minutes! delicious and easy!

https://mismashedmom.com/2013/06/5-minute-pizza-dough.html

Save or Make Money Online: MyPoints

I wanted to share with everyone

my favorite, easy ways to save

or make money online

Here is tip #2

MyPoints is a Free program

where you earn points clicking on emails,

taking surveys,

printing & redeeming coupons,

buying via their site (like ebates)

Before signing up for MyPoints

I would use a junk email account

(you have one of these right? You should! I use mine whenever I do anything online and keep my personal email just for family and friends)

because you will get emails from them

The great thing is

all you have to do is click on these emails

and earn points

easy as that

You can take surveys

and earn points

You can buy online through their site

and earn points

(I usually compare MyPoints to Ebates and see which one I get more $ back on!)

You can print coupons

and earn points when you use them

I LOVE this feature!

I use ALOT of coupons

all printed online

so I can get alot of points

by simply printing and using coupons

something I do anyway!

You will receive many different ways

you can earn points

You can redeem your points for MANY different

gift cards

I always redeem mine

for RainForest Cafe

for all our Disney trips!

I have NEVER had to pay for a meal

at Rainforest Cafe

thanks to MyPoints

one way to make your travel dollars go farther!!

They have MANY different options

and gift cards to choose from!

Sweet rewards

for very little effort

I have been using MyPoints since 2007

and have been very happy to easily earn for my Disney trips!

French onion sandwich

Just looking at those caramelized onions

makes me want to go have some more…

So DELICIOUS!

Sweet onions were on sale this week

so we are making a few of our favorite recipes

that include sweet onions

These are fairly simple to make

and your mouth will water

at the deliciousness of this sandwich!

Ingredients:

2-3 LARGE Sweet onions

3 TBSP butter

1 cup beef stock

Your choice of meat – We used Roast Beef, my daughter had it with Black Forest Ham, and it would also be delicious on top of a Chicken Breast, pork chop, steak…

Cheese of your choice – Swiss, Provolone, Cheddar – we used Colby Jack last night. Optional depending on what meat you use and if you want cheese (but who doesn’t want cheese?!?!)

Hoagie Rolls (or whatever bread you want!)

Butter and Granulated Garlic – optional

Directions:,

Slice your onions. I used my food processor to quickly slice them all very thin. Melt the butter in a large skillet or a large pot (I used a large pot last night). Put the onions in and cook until they get brown and caramelized. Stir them occasionally and make sure to scrap up the bottom of the pan – this will take probably 10-15 minutes. You want the nice caramelized brown color. Once they are brown and caramelized, add the beef stock (I used a bullion cube dissolved in a cup of hot water). Cook the onions until most of the beef stock is almost completely gone.

Meanwhile, I take the Hoagie Rolls and butter them and sprinkle some granulated garlic on top and put them under the broiler to melt the butter and get a crispy edge. I then add the meat and cheese and put it back under the broiler until the cheese melts. Then we just put some onions up on top of our sandwiches and dig in! DELICIOUS… my mouth in watering… I used 2 very large onions and it was enough for 6 sandwiches.

ENJOY!

Disneyland Money Saving Tips

Up until a few months ago

we had annual passes to Disneyland

(we decided to give it a break with the new baby)

Considering we do NOT live in California

(or Arizona, Nevada)

It took a bit of travel for us to get down there often

So we know the ins and outs

of getting things at an affordable price!

So to start my series of Disneyland posts
I will give my best tips for savings a few bucks on your trip!

Always check out
Mousesavers.com for the most up to date deals, coupons, and offers

Food & Drink (I will do a separate post with Character Meals!)

Take your own water into the park – this costs a fortune per bottle in the park. You’ll need alot of water and to re-hydrate often, so make sure you have plenty of water.
Can get free ice water at all counter service restaurants – good for refilling your water bottle with COLD water!
Take your own lunch and snacks. You can take a soft sided cooler into the park. We just put it in the bottom of the stroller. We pack Sandwiches, carrots, string cheese, chips, etc. We keep a large bag of carrots out on the stroller all day and the kids munch on them – they are often gone by the early afternoon! Just bringing in your own snacks (since my kids are ALWAYS hungry) will save you TONS of money!
You MUST and I mean MUST have a Dole Whip outside the Tiki Room. If you have never had one before, ask for a FREE button to commemorate the event! For a shorter line, go inside the Tiki Room outside waiting area – it is often a MUCH shorter line!
One of the best places to eat is Rancho Del Zocalo near Big Thunder Mountain RailRoad – the plates are HUGE and I highly suggest sharing!
The Blue Bayou, in MY opinion, is WAY overpriced and only mediocre food. but it is fun to eat inside the Pirate of the Caribbean ride. However, now that I have done it, I don’t plan on wasting my money on it again
Jazz Kitchen Express in Downtown Disney has decent prices, good food, and the Beniets there are DELICIOUS!
Have a Birthday within a month or so of your trip? Head over here to Patina Groups website and sign up for their mailing list. You will get $30 to spend for dinner!! There are 3 different restaurants to choose from in Downtown Disney. We like Tortilla Jos’ because they have a Balloon Animal Artist for the kids while you wait!
Rainforest Cafe has Club you can join – it costs money, but you will make it back in Welcome Rewards, you will get a birthday reward, and you get a discount in the store! I happened to get mine when they were running a sale for $10!
Speaking of RainForest Cafe, Join MyPoints and earn points to get Rainforest Cafe Gift Cards for FREE! I do this with my points, and in all our Disney trips, we always eat at RainForest Cafe for FREE with my gift cards I’ve earned (not to mention the bonus I get from having the Raninforest Cafe club card!)
Earl of Sandwich in Downtown Disney is always a delicious and inexpensive (for theme parks!) place to get a sandwich
If you have a Disney Visa card, you can get 10% off at many restaurants (check your card website for the restaurants currently being offered)
Head over here to MouseSavers for up to date coupons for restaurants in the area

Tickets:

My husband gets Disney Ticket discount through work – you might check your place of employment and see if they have a discount program
Getawaytoday.com offers discount on Theme Park Tickets – you can even get discounts on Character Meals from them. They also offer a Best Price/Best Service Guarantee, so if anything, including tickets have a price reduction, they will honor it – how cool is that?!?! So you can buy worry free!
Check your local Costco – ours often has tickets available at a lower price
Watch for Gift Card deals at your local Grocery store. Around here, they often have the Park Hopper tickets at the store, and they are often included in the gift card deals (like save $10 on your next grocery shopping trip when you spend $100 or 10x gas rewards, etc.) This would also work to buy Disney Gift Cards, to pre-buy some of the food, souvenirs, etc you are planning on spending at Disney anyway -so you might as well save some money by getting the gift cards!
If you plan on doing other things, like Universal Studios, Sea World, or San Diego Zoo – you might check out the CityPass tickets – they are a GREAT deal!!

Souvenirs

Your Disney Visa card will get you 10% off $50 purchase, so we try and get all of our souvenirs at once and get the discount
Hit up your local DisneyStore or Disneystore online and get souvenirs cheaper or on sale!
Make a budget for your kids, so they have to stick to it
We tell our kids they get mickey ears and a stuffed animal – anything over that, they have to pay for. Make up your own rules, and maybe have them save up for it before the trip. Makes them appreciate what they get more and stops many of the “I wants” if you have it set up beforehand!
Buy Disney Gift cards when your local grocery store is having a Gift card deal or Target for 5% off if you have a red card
Go to the Disney Character Warehouse Outlet that is not too far from Disneyland and get park merchandise at a reduced cost. Google it and you can often find coupons as well!
Get a Free Birthday, Anniversary, Just married, or I’m Celebrating buttons from City Hall or Guest Services
Free License at Autotopia
Autographs from the Characters are always Free
We made binders with printer paper in them – we got the autographs on one side, and then we printed the picture of the kids with that character on the other side of the paper. They turned out AWESOME!
When we were there, in CarsLand, they had Free CarsLand buttons at the stores (not sure if they still do?) Each of my kids, got each of the colors (6 total colors x3 kids – yeah we had 18 buttons!)
Cast Members will give out Free Mickey Stickers!
Jedi Academy Participants get a certificate to take home

Other:

Try and bring in things you need like sunscreen, to batteries, to avoid the high cost in the park
bring ponchos, if rain is in the forecast – get them at the dollar store and throw them away when done!

Hotel:

We have stayed at many hotels near Disneyland. We have some criteria for what hotel we want to stay at:

Must be within walking distance – thus saving on driving time and parking/shuttle FEES!
Must have a refrigerator and microwave, so we can prepare and have meals in our hotel room, thus saving more money
It MUST be CLEAN and NICE

Now if you have been to Disneyland, you know this may not be an easy task. Many of the hotels across the street are old, and frankly, not very nice. They are nice enough to sleep in, and that is about as far as I would go. You also have to be careful when looking for a hotel. MANY say they are across the street, which may be true, but they need to be across the street from the ENTRANCE – there is a BIG difference in that distinction! It could be across the street, but way too far to walk to the actual entrance. So be VERY careful!

We do have a favorite – and we have stayed in several. The Carousel Inn is probably our #2, but our #1 favorite – by a MILE – is the Howard Johnson Anaheim and the only one we stay in on all our trips now!!

They have great rooms, the BEST kids play swim area outside of Disney (our kids LOVE the play area and playing in all the water features!!), complete with pirate ship and waterslides! They have a fantastic staff, are an EASY walk to the entrance, good prices, and just a great resort! Make sure to book EARLY if you want one of their great family suites! It is the only place we’ll stay when we go now. Sign up for their emails and you can get emails with their exclusive 50% off rates!! GREAT deal!! (They often have other discounts as well, just call them and ask!)

Skillet Potatoes

Mmmm…

Potatoes

Who doesn’t love potatoes?

It is one of the 5 food groups my toddler likes to eat –

fruit, veggies, bread, cheese, and potatoes

He is a self imposed vegetarian

These are delicious

and VERY easy!

They get crispy

and delicious

cheap and easy too!

We ate them tonight

and added them into our scrambled eggs

delicious!

Ingredients:

Potatoes – I use one per person, so I made 5 (the baby doesn’t eat yet!)

Olive oil or butter

1 Onion

Montreal Steak Seasoning – seriously, go to Costco and buy the BIG container of this stuff. It is good on just about everything, and I use it ALL the time! Now go – buy it!

Peel the potatoes. Place on a plate and microwave 2 minutes. Turn potatoes and microwave another 2 minutes. Cut the potatoes in half and let cool until you don’t burn your hands handling the potatoes

Now cut the potatoes into your desired shape. My husband likes to cut them into rounds when he does it. I do it into triangular cubes (see picture). Doesn’t really matter much. Heat skillet on high – you are going to need a fairly hot skillet, but don’t burn the potatoes – after it’s hot, turn down to medium/medium high. Coat the bottom of the pan in a thin layer of Olive Oil or butter. I usually use Olive Oil, but that is personal preference. Place potatoes in the skillet. Sprinkle with Montreal steak Seasoning (or seasoning of your preference). Take the onion and GRATE it over the potatoes. Try not to cry 😉 This really makes the potatoes delicious! Stir the potatoes.

Now this goes against all my instincts, but leave the potatoes alone for a bit – do not stir! Make sure it is not up too high, because you don’t want them to burn, but to get that delicious crust on them, you have to let them sit and not touch them! Check them after a few minutes (depends on your heat how long this will take, just keep an eye on them) and see if the crust is getting golden brown – if it is, stir the potatoes. Keep doing this until the potatoes are golden brown on most sides. Making sure the pan is not too hot that they burn, but not too low that they never get a crust is the key to these perfect potatoes. Just keep a close eye on the heat and the crust, and you’ll be fine 🙂

Seriously delicious – crispy outside and fluffy inside. Mmmmm….

Save or Make Money Online: Ebates

I wanted to share with everyone

my favorite, easy ways to save

or make money online

Here is tip #1

I have been using Ebates for YEARS

I LOVE them

It is probably the first place that started my love affair

with saving money online

You get money back

for shopping online

You might as well get money back

for doing something you are going to do anyway!

You will get a Big Fat check

each quarter

with the money you got back from shopping online

All you need to do

is before shopping

go to Ebates

click on the store you are wanting/going to shop at

and that’s it!

You are re-directed to the site

and you will automatically get money back from your transaction!

Super EASY!

If I need something

I will try to buy it online

even if I can get it at the store

or I order it for picking up at the store

1. I don’t have to shop with 4 kids!

2. I save myself gas

3. I get money back, something that would not have happened by going into the store!

When we were buying a new freezer

We knew what we wanted

so we went on the website

and ordered it for pick-up

and got 8% back from Ebates

So give Ebates a try

it doesn’t cost you anything

and you get money back in your pocket

Super Easy and I know I could always use some money back!

Steam buns

Steam Buns

probably one of the most perfect foods on the planet

you can fill them with just about anything

We have them with MANY different meals

and split them open and stuff whatever meat or noodles we are eating for dinner

You can even make them into a meal

Stuff them with BBQ Pork

DELICIOUS!

We’ve had it with creamy coconut in the middle

DIVINE!

We are usually lazy and just make them plain

to go with our meals

The kids eat through them pretty quickly

We have done them with a mix of Wheat Flour

if you want

just mix half wheat, half white

but we tend to like the gummy, chewiness you get from the white flour

when eating steam buns

and since we rarely eat just white flour

it is a once in awhile, delicious treat!

Ingredients:
1 pkg yeast or 2 1/4 tsp

1 cup warm water

4.5 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 cup boiling water

Directions:

Dissolve yeast in the warm water. Add 1 cup of flour and mix thoroughly. Let sit until bubbles appear – usually 10-15 min.

Meanwhile, dissolve sugar and oil in boiling water (I usually just put them all in my liquid Pyrex measuring cup and put it in the microwave for a minute or two). Stir well and let cool slightly. Pour into yeast mixture. Add in the rest of the flour. Now I just let the dough hook on my kitchen aid do all the work, but if you don’t have one (you really should consider getting one!), knead the dough until smooth. Put back into a greased bowl and cover with a damp cloth.. Let rise until double in size, usually 1-2hrs.

Rip some foil into 24 small pieces. Divide the dough into 24 rolls (I divide the dough in half, then each half into half, then each of those halves into half and then finally into thirds) and place each dough roll onto a foil piece. If you are going to add a filling, this is where you would add it into the center of each bun. Let rise another 1/2hr or so.

Then you steam for 10 minutes. As you can see, we just use our vegetable steamer in large pot. Cover the pot tightly for the 10 minutes. Make sure to add more water to the pot after each batch, so you don’t run out of water 😉 (unfortunately too much experience in that area :P)

Enjoy! Makes 24 buns

Solar Panels

We are getting Solar Panels!

This has LONG been a wish of mine

Clean, renewable energy

Made from the roof of my own home!

I might as well put that space to use

I see other houses with them

and have long wanted some for our home

I love the idea of being self-sufficient

We try to do as much as we can to be “green”

We recycle way more than we throw away

we use reusable grocery bags

I don’t drive more than I have to

(plus, saves gas!)

We try to be good stewards of this Earth we have been given

The drawback?

The cost!

I know I don’t have $20,000

just laying around to spend on Solar Panels

I do have 4 kids to put through college!!

I know that with tax credits, etc.

it will lower my cost

but still more money than I am willing to spend

knowing it will take me more than 10 or more years to make it back

I like being a good steward of the earth

but I simply cannot afford that

Not to mention,

the fact that I may not live in this house long enough

to re-coup the cost of the panels

So we had a friend that was raving about her new panels

How they actually got a CREDIT on their power bill!

so I asked her about them

and she told me about how they were able to get

them affordably!

So we contacted the company

Solar City

and got a quick consultation

Seriously, only on the phone for like 5 minutes

They decided we have the perfect house

and that they would send out a consultant to talk to us about it

We sent them our latest power bill

and that was it

We looked into the company
and found places like Google, Home Depot
and numerous banks and financial firms
have partnered with Solar City to offer
solar panels to everyone!

The consultant came to our home

and showed us the different options

available

They had options for as little as $0 money down

all the way up to paying for the whole thing

They really had options for whatever you were looking for

With the no money down

They really just become like your new power company

They GUARANTEE the amount of power your panels will produce

They also warranty the whole system,

so if something goes wrong

or gets broken

they fix it

NOT you!

They have different options, depending on the state you live in

but you essentially just pay them per KWH,

just like you do your current power company

It is basically just a new power company for you

and you pay them like you would your power company

Only, it’s better because

they have a LOCKED IN LOWER RATE!!

You lock in a GUARANTEED Power rate

for 20 YEARS!

Not only will you have a FIXED power rate for the next 20 years

but it is LOWER than your current power rate!

How SWEET is that?!?!

Any excess power from your panels

is fed back into the system

and you will receive a CREDIT on your power company bill

Depending on that state you live in

you also will qualify for a tax credit!

I know we are getting a tax credit!

So not only are we paying NOTHING out of pocket

and LOWERING our power bill

we are also getting a tax CREDIT!!!

How sweet is that?!?!

Not to mention the fact

that I finally get my dream

of having solar panels

and creating our own

clean renewable energy!

So if you’ve always wanted solar panels

or just want a LOWER power bill

that is at a FIXED rate

Head on over here

and get a FREE,

NO Obligation consultation 🙂

We’ll be keeping you all up to date on the progress of our panels

So far

Solar City had taken care of EVERYTHING!

They seriously do it ALL

We had our site audit

to measure our roof, etc.

That took like 20 minutes

then the Design portion only took

1 day!

My husband

totally Geeked out over the plans

He LOVES all the technical stuff

(he’s a software engineer)

Now we are just waiting for building permits

so we can get it installed!

Solar City is taking care of everything

and we haven’t had to do anything,

other than to sign papers!

I can’t wait to share pictures with everyone

Can you tell

I am thrilled?!?!

(FYI – they do have options for if you sell your home! Since it is like a power company, just like when you move you have to have the power bill put into your name, it works the same way… They also have other options too – so don’t think just because you might not stay somewhere 20 years, that you can’t still take advantage of this awesome company)

Creamy Chicken Dumpling soup

Oh.my.

This meal was a success

I might be one of the favorite things I’ve made lately

I LOVED my mom’s Chicken and Dumplings

always a favorite of mine as a kid

and this might even beat it!

Plus it was so easy to make

This is going to be my new go-to

when we are sick meal

My kids gobbled it up

but they said they could do without the chicken

that they prefer the dumplings

Ok,

maybe next time I’ll just skip the chicken and do dumpling soup

I guess that saves some $$

Mmmm… I think I am going to go have some leftovers now…

Ingredients:

2 cups of flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 pinch of salt

2 TBSP butter

1 cup of milk

2 Quarts of Chicken Broth

1 lb chicken (of course, I might just leave this out next time)

Cracked Pepper as desired

Pour the Chicken Broth into a stock pot and put chicken in there to cook. Bring to a slow boil. You can also just use already cooked chicken also, and put it in AFTER the dumplings go in. After the chicken is cooked, I shredded it.

In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut the butter into the flour with a fork or pastry blender. Add in the milk, mixing until dough comes together. With the broth at a slow boil, drop dumplings in, one at a time, stirring as you add them. No need to be precise about the size, just do them as big as you would like, about ping pong ball size or smaller, as they do expand!

Cook about 15-20 minutes, until they are cooked through. If using cooked chicken, add it now and heat through. The Broth will thicken as the dumplings cook and then add fresh cracked pepper as desired!

ENJOY!